Every year, fans of the Winter X games see snowmobile racers battle the elements and the laws of gravity to perform amazing feats—including long distance jumps and double back flips. What the fans don’t see is the ongoing battle between fasteners and vibration within every bolted joint of the snowmobile.

Heat staking is a well-known method of heating and forming a molded plastic stud or boss to secure another component.

OAKVILLE, ON—Ford Motor Co. of Canada is adding more than 1,000 hourly jobs at its assembly plant here in preparation for the launch of the 2015 Ford Edge crossover utility vehicle.

CLEVELAND, NC—Daimler Trucks is trying to fill more than 300 positions at its Freightliner assembly plant here, but the company is having trouble finding enough qualified workers in the area. The company has been hiring since April and wants to have more than 1,000 new employees by the end of the year.

DEARBORN, MI—Ford Motor Co. plans to install 25,000 energy-efficient LED light fixtures at its plants.

CLARKSTON, MI—Magneti Marelli has opened a new exhaust system manufacturing plant here that will assemble products for Fiat Chrysler vehicles.

NEW BOSTON, MI—Brose North America’s new 380,000-square-foot factory here will produce door modules, latch modules and seat structures.

WARREN, MI—Chrysler engineers revamped more than 350 workstations at a 76-year-old assembly plant here to boost production of the popular Ram pickup truck.

RUSSELLS POINT, OH—Just six months after installing two wind turbines at its assembly plant here, Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America Inc. has reported that the machines are producing more electrical power than was anticipated. The turbines have exceeded the projected power output figures by 6.3 percent.

TUSCALOOSA, AL—Mercedes-Benz will invest $2.4 billion to boost capacity at its assembly plant here from 185,000 per year to 300,000. The facility will also hire additional workers.